20 April 30, 2014 FCW.COM
Capitol Hill
to tamper with planned moves to
reduce personnel costs, accord-
ing to a report in Navy Times. "If
you choose to roll them back," he
warned, "you ll have to take the
money out of somewhere else."
In recent decades, lawmakers
have repeatedly balked at what
DOD officials have described
as essential decisions to reduce
bases and other facilities at home
and abroad. The problem has
grown with recent troop cuts
overseas and the bitter con icts
that accompanied the most
recent base realignment and
closure review in 2005.
Hagel has urged Congress to
authorize a new BRAC review
that would end in 2017. He told
reporters that if Congress does
not cooperate, he might make
internal changes to reduce infra-
structure. "Sequestration requires
cuts so deep, so abrupt, so quick-
ly that we cannot shrink the size
of our military fast enough,"
Hagel said. But lawmakers receive
intense pressure from local commu-
nities that are reluctant to lose the
economic boost of military bases in
the U.S.
Furthermore, at Washington-area
conferences that have included many
military contractors, top DOD of cials
have outlined the challenges they face
when buying IT and services.
"It struck me how incredibly com-
plicated it was, how dif cult it was for
program managers to just make their
way through that maze," said Frank
Kendall, undersecretary of Defense for
acquisition, technology and logistics.
He lamented the dif culty of going
through the legislative process and set
low objectives for the coming year.
"We ll try to get low-hanging fruit," he
said and added that lawmakers tenden-
cy to "keep adding statutory require-
ments year over year over year, all try-
ing to improve things...just makes the
burden on program managers huge."
Sequestration still looms
Given the limited political reward for
dealing with such issues, most law-
makers prefer to focus on broader and
more newsworthy stories. The Rus-
sian invasion of Crimea presented that
opportunity, along with continuing hot
spots in Syria, Iran and the Korean
peninsula.
When Hagel appeared before the
House Appropriations Committee s
Defense Subcommittee in mid-March
to discuss his budget plan, which he
said "begins to make the hard choices
that we re all going to have to make,"
he updated his testimony to include
recent developments in Ukraine.
Nevertheless, several panel members
broadened the discussion to other
ongoing con icts.
"We need to work together to help
the Department of Defense address
very serious challenges, from ending
major combat operations in Afghani-
stan to addressing enduring threats
from North Korea and Iran and ash-
points in the Middle East,
Africa and Asia," Rep. Nita
Lowey (D-N.Y.) told Hagel.
She also noted that many
lawmakers remain concerned
about sexual assaults, suicide
and the quality of life in the
military.
Adding to the Pentagon s
problems with congressional
oversight has been the recent
turnover of senior congres-
sional leaders in both parties,
most notably on the appro-
priations subcommittees.
In addition, the pending
retirements of the chairmen
of the House and Senate
Armed Services committees
--- McKeon and Sen. Carl
Levin (D-Mich.) --- will lead
to big leadership shifts and
organizational changes at
the end of the year. House
Republican leaders willing-
ness to leapfrog seniority
in selecting new committee
chairmen adds to the internal competi-
tion and tensions. But the current front-
runners for their parties slots --- Rep.
Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Jack
Reed (D-R.I.) --- are both regarded as
cerebral and experienced in dealing
with military and security issues.
For Pentagon of cials in particular,
getting to know prospective chairmen
is very important. Despite the two-year
suspension of the budget sequester, the
timetable that was created in a 2011
budget deal is scheduled to resume
next year, which is a daunting scenario.
"Our detailed planning for sequestra-
tion-level cuts showed that sequestra-
tion would impose some force struc-
ture reductions that simply can t be
implemented with the push of a but-
ton," Hagel told the House Appropria-
tions Committee. "They require...lon-
ger time horizons in planning."
Unfortunately, recent history shows
that long-term planning is not lawmak-
ers strong suit. ■
"We need to work
together to help the
Department of Defense
address very serious
challenges."
REP. NITA LOWEY (D-N.Y.)
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